Blue
by QwertyTheBard
Summary: Morpheus has found a new recruit, a teenage boy from Shibuya. But Neku Sakuraba seems different from the others they've woken up...


The newest recruit showed promise. Morpheus was good at reading people, and it seemed like the Shibuyan teenager that he was currently leading to Pork City wasn't quite ready to except "reality" at face value. He was obviously an individualist, with that odd (not that Morpheus had the right to call anyone else's clothes odd,) sleeveless top with a muffler-like collar, white cargo shorts, and messy, almost spiky orange hair. His hair was separated into two main chunks by lavender headphones, which he wore behind his ears. The boy's eyes were bright blue, almost electric, unnatural.

Neku Sakuraba.

He had potential, sure, but something about him just seemed… off. Morpheus couldn't put his finger on it. If Neku decided to wake up, he would ask him. In any case, Morpheus would have to find out what it _was_, first. If it was anything.

* * *

Neku pulled one speaker of his headphones over his ear. He normally wore them behind his ears now: they provided background music, spicing up the world instead of shutting it out.

Weird things started happening to him a few weeks out of the game. He still shuddered thinking about it; he could barely go to the scramble or Hachiko at the start of a week, he never wrote on his hand, he couldn't get text messages without having a slight panic attack. Fitting enough that this had all started with a text message:

The Matrix has you. If you want answers, meet me at Pork City, 23:00.

There hadn't been a signature. He had thought it was spam at first, but that had also been what he'd though about his first mission mail. Once that thought had gone through his head, he didn't even want to _try_ to delete the text. And besides, the Matrix, whatever it was, may have something to do with the game. And if someone in the RG knew about the game…

They had to either be a former Player, like he was, or a reaper trying to mess with him. Or something else entirely.

In any case, he was curious, and now, at around 10:45, he was heading up Dogenzaka towards Pork City. He'd had to sneak out, and hoped it was worth it.

Morpheus saw the boy look up at the sky scraper wistfully, his expression a mixture of happiness, pain, fondness, and… fear? That wasn't quite the right word for it, but it would have to do for now.

He stepped out of the shadows. Neku turned to face him, tensing, surprised. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice dripping suspicion.

"You're early," Morpheus replied, deciding not to answer Neku's question directly.

The teen relaxed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He then stared straight at Morpheus, his face nearly expressionless. "You're the guy who sent me that text," he said, half asking, half stating.

Morpheus smiled, his hands clasped behind his back. "Yes."

Neku hesitated, but eventually decided to speak. "Just what _is_ the Matrix?"

He looked up the skyscraper, turning away from Neku as he did so. "Come up there with me, and I'll tell you." Without another word, he headed for the entrance. Neku frowned, but followed Morpheus anyway.

The inside of the building was brightly lit, in complete contrast with the situation Neku had found himself in. Morpheus thought he heard the boy mutter something about cow and mouse, whatever that meant. As the older man headed towards one of the elevators, Neku noticed that the wall reapers that were normally on every floor were absent. It made sense, though, because his time in the game had always been during the day. They were probably at home in the RG sleeping right now.

Neku entered the elevator. There was no music save from what was coming through his phones, so Neku put his hand over the speaker that was actually over his ear and closed his eyes. Morpheus could hear the music leaking through the other speaker, beat- heavy and full of bass.

_Why you want to tie me up?_

_Get out of my way, 'cause I'm on my way. _

_I don't care about imaginary boundaries, but somehow I'm afraid to go over them._

_Cover up_

_All my scars and memories_

_Creativity is all that I got,_

_So let me shout and wake you up_

_Let me wake you up._

Morpheus almost smiled at that line, but the elevator chose that exact moment to stop, so he frowned instead. The doors opened, and there were still no agents in sight. They were only on the sixth floor though, the elevator shouldn't have stopped until they reached the thirteenth floor. Seeing him tense, Neku chuckled.

"Don't worry, these elevators are kind of spastic. I'm surprised we made it this far without having to switch."

"You come here often, then?"

Neku looked down. "One too many times." He frowned and stepped out of the elevator, not bothering to give Morpheus a chance to lead the way.

Morpheus found Neku standing in the middle of the narrow hall, staring mutely at a boy that looked about his age, who stood facing the back wall talking on his phone. The boy had silver-green hair, pale skin, and was wearing a blue polo shirt, black slacks, and white shoes. His voice was slightly girly, like his vocal chords hadn't hit puberty yet. However, it was the things he was actually saying that put Morpheus on edge.

"Yeah, they're here… I _know_ they'll be suspicious, but it can't be helped… I doubt it… Fine. I'll pass it on." This kid… He had known they were coming, and he sounded like he _knew _about the Matrix. A Program, perhaps? Before Morpheus had much time to consider, the boy hung up and turned around.

"It's good to see you again, Neku," he said with a smirk, completely ignoring Morpheus, who was standing a few feet behind Neku. Morpheus was getting more and more confused by the second. He wasn't used to the feeling, and he didn't like it at all.

Neku was tense, his hands clenched into fists beside him. "What the hell, Joshua?" He looked up, practically yelling. "What's going on this time?"

The other kid, Joshua, just chuckled and shook his head. "This time? For that answer, Neku," he nodded in Morpheus' direction, "you really ought to ask the man who brought you here."

Neku started to protest, but Joshua raised a hand and he stopped. "In any case, I'm just here to give you two a couple of messages."

"From…?"

"Mr. H and myself, naturally."

"So neither of you have anything to do with this?"

Joshua smirked. "Not much, in any case."

Neku crossed his arms, obviously not very satisfied with Joshua's answer. He sighed. "So. What are the messages?"

"Neku, I just wanted you to know that I don't want to be a factor in the decision you're about to make."

Neku raised an eyebrow. "What decision?"

"You'll see," he chuckled, "But in any case, it'll be completely your choice. Don't make me a part of it."

Neku sighed. "And the other one?"

"It's for Morpheus, from Mr. H."

Morpheus looked as surprised as was possible behind his sunglasses. Mr. H… why did that name (letter?), sound familiar? "Who's Mr. H?" he asked.

Joshua was still smirking, but Morpheus thought he saw it widen. "He's a barista. And he says you won't find any agents in Shibuya for a while, so you have no good reason to die."

That was it, this kid _had_ to be related to the Matrix somehow. And it was even more disturbing that Neku knew him.

Joshua calmly walked towards the nearest elevator, eyes closed, hands in pockets, face expressionless.

"Wait." Neku spoke up suddenly. Joshua stopped in his tracks. "Joshua… why are you afraid of Morpheus dieing?"

The Composer gave his former proxy and odd look over his shoulder, and an even odder answer. "Don't mistake caution for fear, Neku." His violet eyes darted to Morpheus for a split second, and then he was in the elevator.

* * *

Needless to say, the second half of their ride up was a lot less comfortable. Neither of them spoke each other. Neku barely heard the music piping through his phones. Morpheus' thoughts kept going in circles. And each was trying to figure the other out.

Even though Morpheus shoved other people down it all the time, he hadn't been down the rabbit hole himself in a while. Something was up with those kids, something big, and he hated not having a clue what it was. He wasn't sure now that he wanted to wait until Neku decided to wake up to ask him what was up. But who knew what would happen if he wasn't cautious around this kid? Or even if he would choose to wake up, or if doing so would go smoothly?

Neku was seething, confused, and numb all at once. The last time he had seen Joshua, he'd had to fight that freaking _dragon _of a power-hungry Conductor, found out that his piece-of-snot second week partner who he'd thought had _died_ was actually the Composer, and was told that his three weeks in the game, which had been hell enough, had actually been part of a bigger game to decide the fate of Shibuya, and he'd been playing for the wrong side the whole time without knowing it, not that there had been a right side in the first place. Not to mention that Joshua had shot him, _killed_ him, more than once. And now there was this new, shady guy, and whatever the hell the Matrix was.

Of course, neither of them let themselves look as rattled as they really were.

The ride through six floors, thankfully, didn't take long. After tense seconds that seemed like hours, the motion stopped and the elevator doors opened. They were on the thirteenth floor.

Across the hall from the elevator was an old, scarred wooden door. The thing looked like it would fall in the moment anyone knocked on it. Instinct and logic both told Neku that despite the fact that it obviously was, the door really _shouldn't_ have been there. Not only was Pork City to clean and modern to have anything in it that old, if by some chance it did, it wouldn't be on the top floor. Neku was also pretty sure they were facing the building's outside wall, which meant that Morpheus (and he just realized how weird the guy's name was. Honestly, who names their kid after a Greek god?) would have to be insane to open it, and he obviously intended to do so.

But before Neku could voice any protests, the door was opened from the other side. Standing on the other side was another leather-clad person, a woman with slick, short black hair. She simply nodded at Morpheus, and let them into a room as old and decrepit as the door had been. The wallpaper was peeling, and the once intricately patterned carpet beneath Neku's sneakers was now monotone and threadbare. The music behind his ears was simply annoying now, so he fiddled with the Mp3 player around his neck for a second and turned it off, pulling his 'phones around his neck.

Morpheus sat down in one of the two high-backed chairs that were facing each other in the middle of the room, and motioned for Neku to do the same. The brown leather pulled at his bare legs, and for the first time in a while he wished he wasn't so prone to wearing shorts. He somehow managed not to fidget, amazingly, and simply crossed his arms and leaned back, trying not to look as nervous as he really was.

Morpheus reached into his leather overcoat, and pulled out a small metal rectangle of a canister, about the size and shape of a cigarette holder (although it was hard for Neku imagine the man in front of him smoking). He started twirling it slowly through his fingers as he talked to the boy in front of him.

"Neku, what do _you_ think the Matrix is?"

He sighed. "Well, I had an idea, but Joshua pretty much blew it off," Neku gulped and closed his eyes. "It's _not_ the UG, right?"

"What's the UG?" It wasn't Morpheus that spoke this time, but a Caucasian man with black hair leaning against the wall behind him, partially in shadow. More sunglasses, more black leather.

Neku studied the man for a moment, then fixed his gaze on some undistinguished point under the table. "It's short for the Underground, but… I guess if you don't know, I probably shouldn't tell you."

The room was silent for a while after that, but it was tense rather than awkward. No one, not even Neku, knew how to handle the situation. After nearly half a minute, the man who had asked about the UG walked to a point behind Morpheus' chair and started pacing. He stared at Neku the whole time, which was slightly unnerving, and after a few seconds started talking.

"The Matrix," he said, in a calm, level monotone, "Is everywhere. It's the chair you're sitting in, the air you breath, this building. This entire city is just a small part of it." He paused to let this sink in. Neku was just staring at him with an odd kind of interest, like he _knew_ what Neo was talking about, even more so than the others they had woken up since he joined the crew.

Morpheus picked up from there, giving what was basically the same explanation they normally gave their potentials. "Neku, do you ever get the feeling that there is something wrong with the world, something that you can't quite put your finger on?"

_What, you mean other than the fact that the city's run by a brat who plays with people's lives because he's bored?_ "Um…yeah, actually."

"That feeling, Neku, is the reason you're here. You aren't sure what it is, but I am. Everyone, on some level or another, can tell that the Matrix is there, but very few can ever feel it as much as you do," He opened the case, revealing two translucent pills surrounded by padding, one red, one blue. "What I'm offering is the truth. It won't be pretty, but unlike this world, it's _real_," Morpheus took the pills, one in each fist, and set the case on the table. He was staring at Neku intensely, which was made even scarier by the fact that his face was reflected by Morpheus' glasses. Morpheus held both fists in front of him, slowly uncurling one to reveal the red pill.

"Take the red pill, and I don't just tell you the truth, I _show _you. We wake you up." He uncurled his other fist. "Take the blue pill, and the story ends here. You wake up in your bed and…believe whatever you want to believe."

Neku was sorely tempted to say 'Sorry, I don't take candy from strangers,' but the sheer reality of it all had struck too many chords for that. He doubted these people were reapers, or even from Shibuya, but what they said reminded him too much of the UG for him to completely disregard them. He wasn't sure if that _was_ what they were talking about, but even if it wasn't…

He gulped, reached for the red pill, but right before he touched it, Morpheus interrupted him.

"You know, you can't go back."

Neku withdrew his hand like the pill had burned him. Not going back meant leaving, something he _wasn't_ going to do, especially in the middle of the night without telling his friends or family. The thought of leaving Shibuya, his city, his friends, his music…

"And you somehow didn't think it was important to tell me this?" He took a deep breath to steady himself. They were all looking at him like he had just bitten off his own hand.

Neku sighed. "Look, three months ago I probably wouldn't have cared, but I wouldn't have been curious enough to come up here anyway. Point is, I've changed since then, and I'm _not_ about to leave Shibuya when I've just started seeing it for what it is." Neo, standing beside Morpheus, chuckled at that, but stopped when the kid glared at him. "Things have changed - not just me, the whole city. I have _friends_ now, for the first time in my life. I…" Another gulp, seemed like he was doing that a lot lately, "I can't just leave them behind like that."

As he took the blue pill from Morpheus' hand, watched him put away the other, he sighed. The woman, off to his side, cursed under her breath. Neo stared at the floor, numb, Morpheus the only one whose expression remained completely unchanged.

As Neku shoved the pill in his mouth, they all faded blue, then black.


End file.
